Daily Inspiration #96
Mother Teresa
Small Things
Mother Teresa
Small Things
Mother Teresa, known in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu; Albanian: [aˈɲɛzə ˈɡɔndʒɛ bɔjaˈdʒiu]; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary. She was born in Skopje (now the capital of the Republic of Macedonia), then part of the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. After living in Macedonia for eighteen years she moved to Ireland and then to India, where she lived for most of her life.
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Well, she has a ton of great quotes.
The one I went with today is:
"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."
This is true in many areas of life in fact.
It is the little things that really make a person.
The little things add up and become what people see.
A teacher of mine used to say:
To become a master, you must master the basics.
Very successful people are often still doing the little, fundamental things that they first learned long before we deemed them successful.
They have repeated these small things over and over until they were simply a part of them.
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They have mastered the basics.
The smallest thing about your area, when practiced religiously, can be such a powerful influence on your success.
You see people all the time, in nearly every field, that are doing tricks or showing off.
Behind them, if you look, you will also see the guys that seem to be doing the same seemingly small things over and over.
They don't get as much attention of course because they don't seem to have the same flare as the hot rods and show offs.
However, once that person has honed his skills something magical happens.
All of the sudden that person begins to be noticed.
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Not for flare, but for elegance and precision.
I used to make fine wire jewelry and was well known for it.
Many people would ask me to teach them.
Most of the time I would say I would not teach.
However, several times I did give in and give people a chance.
Although, to this day I have not taught one person.
Why?
Because none of them could pass the first test.
Do a simple, fundamental and mundane thing over and over and over.
This is precisely how I taught myself.
Of course many of these people went on to make and sell beautiful pieces.
Yet all of them lacked the elegance and precision that they could have learned from paying attention to the small, fundamental techniques.
In whatever you do, it is these small things that build a solid foundation to grow off of.
Each small thing we do regularly is like a building block.
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It does not stand alone, it gets built upon as we grow.
The smallest change that you can do, and make a regular habit of, can have the largest impact on your life.
Big changes are great and can be very impacting.
Small changes are easier to do and make habit of.
Often we can do several small things instead of tackling a large thing all at once.
So if you are having trouble making a large change, look around and see what small changes you can make habit of.
You will be amazed at how powerful these seemingly small things will change you further down the road.
Remember,
"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."
Thanks for reading,
Michael David
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